Ring to Eternity
by Xenoglossy
Summary: And I wondered, what would've have happened at Eluria if Claude had never come back...?


PRE FIC RANTINGS AND A SPRINKLE OF DISCALIMER: Whenever I play games, my writer's brain is always going 'What if, what if'. Usually, I ignore these nagging questions and go on playing, but upon playing through Star Ocean II a second time (I did Rena's game first) the scene in which Claude went up to his father's space ship in the middle of Eluria captured my imagination particularily. So here is a fanfic for anyone who's ever wondered: What would have happened if  
Claude never came back?   
All characters and situations presented in this piece of writing are no property of mine. The rights go to the excellent game developer ENIX. And stuff. (The title of this story comes from a vocal song from the anime series Star Ocean EX.)  
  
  
  
  
  
Ring to Eternity  
Izzy Girl  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Rena ran her finger along the ridge of the wooden pendant, her eyes glancing upwards hopefully every so often towards the darkness above her. That's where Claude had dissapeared to and it was where she hoped he would come back from.  
  
"It wasn't any sort of Heraldy art I've ever seen." Celine said self importantly, sounding as always swaggeringly self-confident, but in her lavendar eyes there was a quiver of fear. Rena didn't blame her- afterall, there was no proper explanation for what had happened. Claude was there, and then suddenly he wasn't. All that had been left were the lingering traces of light floating up towards the ceiling. The remainder of the party had remained, staring ahead and at each other blankly. Even Precis had been speechless for a few moments there.  
  
"It probably wasn't Heraldy." the girl spoke for the first time since Claude had left. She ran her gloved fingers through her long, orange hair and bit her lip, "It was probably caused by some sort of machine. But anyways, Claude will come back. He said he would come back, didn't he Ashton?" she glanced at the tall swordsman for confirmation. He reddened slightly as he usually did when spoken to by the spunky mechanic.  
  
"Um. Yeah. He did say that..."  
  
"And Claude always keeps a promise!" Precis affirmed, smiling weakly.  
  
Without warning, Ashton jerked slightly and his eyes snapped closed, then open. They were red when he straightened up again and his voice was tinny and emotionless, "Claude is a human. Humans never keep their promises."  
  
Rena breathed deeply and noticed that Celine was doing the same and Leon was staring at the cursed warrior with wide-eyed horror. It took a long time to get used to the way Gyoro and Ururun would speak through their host sometimes, even for Rena who had named the creatures. Only Precis seemed non-fazed by the sudden transformation. She stood and paced towards Ashton, placing one hand on his shoulder and glaring at the snake-like red creature.  
  
"You're just cynical, Gyoro. Not all humans are like that. Didn't Ashton keep his promise not to kill you and you're brother? Aren't you grateful."  
  
Ashton eyes shifted from red to blue and Ururun blinked his large, droopy eyes, "It's different. Ashton is one with us, he understands. He is trustworthy, other humans are not."  
  
Precis's expression darkened. She drew away and crossed her arms defiantly, "Are you saying I'm not trustworthy? Cause' I'm taking it personally. And what about Rena, she was the first person to treat you two like sentient beings, huh? I heard she even  
gave you your names!"  
  
The dragons both hung their heads and Ashton was released. He stared at everyone with his bright green eyes, confused. Precis just sighed and plopped herself down beside the swordsman, gathering her inactive bobot up in her lap.  
  
Leon cleared his throat and stood, "Big Brother will be back." he stated loftily, in that arrogant way of his, twitching his ears and playing with the cuffs of his labcoat. He sat again, looking as if he wasn't certain about it, but proud that he had gotten his say in.  
  
Rena sighed and clasped her hand around the leaf shaped necklace Claude had bought for her in Salva. It seemed so long ago, when she didn't know anything about him or his 'Urth'. She thought he was some fantastical hero of ledgend- 'The Light Warrior'. Although she knew better now she was still convinced that it was fate that brought him to Expel. He may not have been the 'Light Warrior', but he was definitely a hero. Rena was certain that if she had suddenly been thrown into some strange land with no knowledge of the people of the ways, she wouldn't have had the courage to embark on a quest to save it like Claude had. He was courageous, selfless and always sincere and this is why she held faith. She knew he would return.  
  
"Well..." she began tenatively, bowing her head so that he blue bangs fell in her eyes, "I guess all we can do is wait..."  
  
  
  
|_Claude..._|  
  
  
  
It took Claude's eyes a moment to adjust. He wasn't used to the glare of artificial light after having lived in Expel for so long. Everything there was lit by candle light except, of course, Leon's lab and the Nuueman workshop. He shielded his eyes with his free hand so he heard his father before he actually saw him.  
  
"Claude? Claude, is it really you?"  
  
He opened his eyes slowly, the room filling with color as he did, and he knew where he was. It was the transporter room aboard his father's ship.  
  
"F-father?" He took a few shaky steps towards where Ronixis stood with the first officer Kautzman, hands folded behind his back and face stotic as always. The gravity was different on the ship than it had been on the planet. He felt... heavy.  
  
He saw Kautzman whisper something to his father and they nodded at each other gravely. It was then that Claude realized how strange he must look. He was still wearing his ensign's uniform, but it had since grown ratty and faded. He was outfitted with numerous pendants of tailsman's and had a thick travelling pack hooked onto his belt, overflowing with herbs, berries and funny smelling potions. In one hand, he clutched a ill-polished broadsword and he even had a series of heraldic tattoos running down his arms thanks to Celine and Ashton's insistance that he should learn the magical art just like everyone else. On top of this, his blonde hair had grown out considerably and was held out of his face by a bright, red bandanna.  
  
"Um..." he stepped off the transporter and slipped his sword into it's hilt, "Father... you found me..."  
  
Kautzman answered for his captain, "We picked up your signal during our survey of the Ancarta sector."  
  
"The... Ancarta sector?"  
  
"Yes. It's the furthest humans have ever been into the known galaxy. This system is strange though... there seems to be a high energy body orbiting the sun at a vector of seven thousand years..."  
  
Claude started. His eyes snapped open wide and he looked at Kautzman in shock, "Did you say a high energy body? Not a planet?" he trailed of muttering and both men gave him a strange look, "It could... could it be the Sorcery Globe?"  
  
They didn't understand, Claude realized. They intended to take him home. It wasn't until that moment Claude realized that this wasn't what he wanted. He had spent so many long nights formulating ways to get his stupid communicator to work so that his father would come beam him up and save the day, but it wasn't what he really wanted. He realized now, scanning the familiar,  
but unfamiliar room slowly, that this wasn't where he belonged anymore. He belong back on Expel with his friends and what had become his quest. He belonged with Rena.  
  
He leapt forwards suddenly, grabbing his father's broad shoulders and shaking them desperately, "Father, please! Send me back! You have to send me back right now!"  
  
Ronixis raised an eyebrow and calmly removed his son's hands, holding Claude's wrists as he quivered, "Claude, I don't understand. You've been missing for eight months and twenty four days. We just rescued you, why would you want to go back?" Claude blinked. That was nearly nine months. He had lost track of time quickly, Expellians didn't measure their time in anything larger than their concept of a day, which was only nineteen hours long. In fact, most people had a very loose grasp of their own age. The only person Claude had met who seemed to understand what he meant when he asked 'how old are you' was Leon, who said proudly:  
  
"I have seen twelve springs, twelve summers, eleven autumns and twelve winters."  
  
"I... I know I've been gone a long time, but you don't understand. My friends are in trouble! I have to go help them! The fate of Expel might depend on it!"  
  
"Expel?" Kautzman wondered.  
  
"Claude, you know it's against interplanetary policy to interferre with the normal passage of life on under developed planets!"  
  
"It's a little late for that, Father. I think I may have already interferred."  
  
"If I sent you back there, I'd be breaking about eighty different rules, ones I don't even know!"  
  
"Then just pretend!" Claude pleaded, "Just pretend you don't know about it! Leave me there and say you never found me and no one will ever know!"  
  
Ronixis's face fell. He narrowed his dark eyes and shook his head firmly, "No Claude, I can't do that! Do you understand what you're asking me to do? You're my only son- my only child. I can't just abandon you at the mercy of a savage world like Ancarta IV!"  
  
"It's not a savage world!" Claude insisted, though when he thought about it: the roving monsters, the exotic and strange magic, vast unexplored areas of land and the desperate war with the sorcery globe, he could see his father's point. But if only they knew, if only they understood. Claude couldn't find a way to explain that Expel was not a savage world, but a world full of mystery, romance and adventure, like something out of a great science-fiction epic.  
  
"Enough!" Ronixis's voice raised warningly and he released Claude's wrists, "I'll think about what you have asked, but if you want my personal opinion, I think you're mad! In fact, I command you to report to sickbay immedietly for a physical and mental checkup." and with that, he was gone. Kautzman shrugged apologetically and followed, leaving Claude alone with his thoughts.  
  
He made his way to sickbay slowly, wondering how Doctor Genowitz was going to react to the cache of scars he had collected from what should have been simple wounds, left untreated on the 'savage' world of Expel.  
  
- - -  
  
As per his prediction, Doc Genowitz had a healthy coniption fit and forced Claude to lie back on the medical examination table shirtless while he fretted around with lasers and needles and anestetic. Personally, Claude didn't want to have the scars removed. To him they weren't belmishes, but honors. He had fallen into the Expellian belief that the more scars a person collected, the more heroic they were in the eyes of others. He hadn't been terribly proud of his until Dias had told him solemnly:  
  
"Calude, your scars are honorable for you earned every single one of them by protecting someone you cared about."  
  
Ever since that day. Claude had worn his scars with pride, especially the faint one across his cheek, running from nose to ear. He had gotten that one during his first real battle, protecting Rena from the monster in Shingo forest so long ago.  
  
"Young Kenni. Claude, Claude, Claude..." the old doctor tsked, one eye closed as he filled a syringe carefully, "I always thought that Ronixis was a handful as a youth, but this really takes the cake. You father may have had adventures, but he never returned home with such painful collections of scars and... are these tattoos?" The doctor made a face, "Would you like these removed as well?"  
  
Claude shook his head weakly, "No, no. Please, the tattoos stay."  
  
Genowitz sighed and shook his head, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he hovered over his patient, "Whatever you say, Ensign..."  
  
Claude closed his eyes in anticipation of the anestetic needle, but the entire procedure was interrupted by the sudden blaring of the klaxxons. The Doctor jumped and ran to the computer console, "Oh dear, oh dear. Something has gone terribly, terribly wrong..."  
  
Claude sat up abruptly and grabbed his shirt and jacket from where they were folded neatly on the bedside table. He pulled them on hastily and jumped form the table, running from the sickbay towards the bridge despite Doctor Genowitz's insistance that he stay.  
  
- - -  
  
"What's happening!" Claude shouting, bursting onto the birdge like a whirlwind. The bridge crew all turned, almost in unison, and gasped, looking to their captain for explaination. Claude realized that his father had probably not told the crew that he was back, but before he could ponder the reason, his eyes caught the large, spherical display screen in the center of the room.  
  
This is what he saw: A tiny planet struggling to keep it's orbit against a massive eclipse of blue, electric waves. He lost his voice and walked towards the screen slowly, "Is... is that Expel?" he asked breathlessly."  
  
"M class planet Ancarta IV." The science officer answered mechanically, "Population, 1 billion. Climate, varying through different regions. 62% water, atmosphere a safe combination of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Gravity is one third that of Earth's."  
  
"What... what's happening?"  
  
"Claude, calm down." Kautzman grabbed his arm gently and tried to lead him away from the screen, but he pulled away.  
  
"Tell me what's happening to Expel!"  
  
Kautzman swallowed deeply, then began, "It seems that over the past year the orbit of Ancar... er, Expel, has been... altered."  
  
"What do you mean altered?"  
  
"It means that in seventy-five minutes Ancarta IV will collide with the body of energy that is also orbiting the sun." Ronixis said stiffly. Claude looked at his father and noticed that although his voice was cold and hardened, his eyes were compassionate. Inside, Ronixis was crying and probably telling himself that he had failed those 1 billion beings on the planet.  
  
'It doesn't have to be this way, Father.' Claude said silently,'If only you let me go back...'  
  
"Father, please. Let me go back! If only to say goodbye!"  
  
Of course, Claude had no intention of doing that. Hopefully, they wouldn't see through him and send him through like he requested. When there, he would throw his communicator over the side of the platform in Eluria. They would never be able to find him again. If all his friends were going to die, it was only right he should die with them.  
  
His father looked at him evenly, as if considering the request and for a moment, Claude thought he was going to agree. Unfortunately. his father knew him better than that. Without a word, he snapped his fingers and the two bridge gaurds took hold of Claude's arms.  
  
"Confine him in the brig until I call for him." Ronixis sighed, turning his head away from both his son and the tradgedy on screen.  
  
- - -  
  
Claude didn't know how long he sat in the tiny cell, laying on his back and staring up at the ceiling dispassionately. He wondered if they would even tell him when it happened. He had never felt so helpless in his entire life, not even when he had first become stranded in Arlia Village. He tried to think of something else, a way to escape maybe, or a scientific solution to Expel's problem. Unfortunately, while espionage and Quantum Mechanics had never been his forte, if dwelling had been a course in school Claude would have aced it.  
  
He closed his eyes against the bright lamp on the ceiling and tried to banish the memories from his mind, not because they were unpleasent, but because they represented a time in his life when he felt needed and cared about. His mind couldn't stop conjuring up images of events and faces despite the slow and effective torment they caused him.  
  
Dias Flac, the strong and stotic warrior who cared about no one, or so he told people. The swordsman who would have given everything for his 'little sister' Rena to be happy and who plunged himself into battle again and again just to ease the painful memories of his past.  
  
Celine Jules, who taught Rena and Claude about the spirit of adventure. She wasn't nearly as vain and shallow as one would think at first sight, seeing how she falunted her scantly clad and volumptuous body. She was actually an intelligent and prideful woman with a wicked temper which she often exercised on the men in the group, especially Ashton.  
  
Ashton Anchors had joined their journey purely by accident. Claude would never forget the expression on his face when he first turned to see the dragons imbedded in his back. The man was an excellent and seasoned warrior, if something of a flake, but he a good heart and an unassuming nature. Claude always appreciated his prescence, especially when the cursed traveller took it  
upon himself to train him in sword fighting.  
  
Precis Nuueman though had been something else. Claude could hardly keep up with her in conversation and few could match her pace in battle. The tiny girl packed an amazing amount of punch and opted to hide her startling intelligence behind a mask of typical teenage ditzyness. At the beginning, Claude got the feeling that she had had somewhat of a crush on him, but she had  
grown out of it quickly, which everyone was thankful for because it meant she might eventually notice how poor Ashton would fall over himself in embarassment everytime she even looked at him.  
  
Leon D.S Geeste had been an abrasive personality at first, but Claude soon grew to love the young boy's strange mixture of hyper-intelligence and childish need for validation. He had taken to referring to Claude as his 'big brother' and Claude could only try to live up to this. He wondered if Leon would ever find his parents, but stopped himself- he would never find them because in only a few hours he was going to be dead.  
  
There were others, people they had met only briefly in their travels: Celine's parents, the mayor of Arlia, the strange otherworldly explorers Opera and Ernest, Celine's ex-lover and pharmacist, Bowman Jean. The beautiful and dangerous world of Expel with all it's rich culture and unique people's was about to dissapear forever and along with it the only people Claude had ever felt he belonged with. Along with it, Rena would dissapear too...  
  
(Claude stumbled into the small settlement still soaked and heavily injured. In his arms was the small, unconcious form of a barely breathing Leon. There was great commotion as he passed the rickety gates, people milling around, fetching berries and bandages. Claude stood in the center of this melee, overwhelmed and apart, feeling like he wasn't even in his own body. A familiar face poked out the door of one of the shacks, it's dark blue eyes instantly lighting at the sight of Claude stading there. Rena gasped happily and ran through the gather crowd, throwing her arms around Claude's neck and sobbing as she buried her face in his neck. Claude froze and Leon shifted slightly in his sleep.   
"It's been three days..." Rena sniffed, "We'd given you and Leon up for dead. Oh, thank the Gods Claude... thank the Gods, I don't know what I would have done if you'd die. You belong here, Claude, you belong here with me...")  
  
Claude's silent reviere was broken by the clicking of footsteps down the hallway. He rose as the gaurd came to stand in front of the cell, lowering the forcefield.  
  
"It will be five minutes. Your father said that you might wish to... witness it."  
  
Claude nodded and waved the gaurd away. He broke into a cold sweat and began shuddering. Maybe he could steal away to the transporter room and bring the others back up with him... no, there was no time and they were probably gone. He told himself that he didn't want to see it happen, but before he could process the thought his feet were carrying him towards the  
door and down the hall.   
  
He entered the bridge to find an absolute hush had fallen over the crew. He sat in front of the door, hugging his knees and watching the slow decay of the planet Expel noislessly and in only three colors. Still, he could hear it happening. It happened not with a boom, or a crack, but a ring. It was the ringing of the klaxxons and the ringing of his own voice screaming and beating on the inside of his head and the ringing of Rena's pendant shining out through the darkness as she called his name...  
  
When it was over, he let go of his inhibition and hung his head, crying for all he was worth. It was over. He had failed.  
  
  
  
|_I'm sorry, Rena..._|  
  
  
  
'It started just like anything else. I met a pretty girl. But the difference here is that I did not meet this girl in a conventional scenario. I wasn't in the bar, or on a rainy street, or even in a space port. See, I was on a mission. It was a mission just like any other mission except that this was my first one with an actual rank. I had just finished my internship on 'The Valiant' and had recieved my first post as a ensign. I supposed I should have predicted that it would have been on my father's ship. The old men at central command thought I would appreciate this, but in fact it only made my life more difficult. The crew always used to talk about how I only got by on my father's favor, but it wasn't true. My father wasn't any easier on me, in fact, I think that he was a lot harder on me than he was on most of his officers.  
  
We landed on an M class planet just south of the Yardrow Nebula. Just because it's a planet that can sustain life, doesn't mean it necessarily does. Nevertheless, there were signs that a massive and technologically advance civilization had once inhabited it. So we investigated. I wanted to prove myself to everyone so I pressed on ahead foolishly and was the first to find my way into the ruin. We stumbled upon a strange looking device that almost resembled a transporter. The group tricordered the heck out of it for nearly an hour until I, having been only seventeen years old,  
lost my patience and lept into the machine.  
  
Now, this is where the pretty girl comes in. When I awoke, I found myself in a forest unlike anything I'd ever seen. Understand, I was raised on Earth and not one of the colonies so the idea of un-industrialized land was foreign and exciting to me. I had no idea where I was, or why I was there so I wandered for hours until hearing a scream among the trees. I rushed into a clearing to find a girl being attack by a large monster. Not knowing what else to do, I killed it with the phaser my father had given to me before we beamed down for the mission. The girl stared at me stunned for a few long seconds with her wide blinking eyes, the same color as her dark blue hair, before I offered her my hand. She drew away from me, and pulled herself to her feet. And then, she ran...'  
  
"Have you read 'Planet of the Winds' yet?" Mary asked, sipping her coffee thougtfully and glacing up from her book as her friend sat across form her in the small cafe.  
  
Clyde shook his head and stirred his own drink, "Just started it last night. Picked it up after my literature prof told me about it. Said it was the best science fiction thriller out this year."  
  
Mary laughed and folded over the page, closing the book softly, "It's not a science fiction thriller. The author said that it all really happened."  
  
Clyde snickered as he poured a healthy dose of artificial sweetner into his black coffee, "Okay, Mary. But are you taking into consideration that Claude Kenni spent a good portion of his life locked up in an insane asylum? The guy's a nut."  
  
"Do you really believe that? He was missing for over half a year before his father brought him back after all. Anything could have happened, we don't know." Mary insisted, brushing back her golden hair, her eyes shining passionately.  
  
"Think about it Mary- Magic? Monsters? Creatures that could speak? A human with dragons sticking out of his back? Three of the main characters have blue hair! For goodness sakes, Mary, any grade schooler would be able to tell this was pure fantasy!"  
  
Mary sighed and leaned her chin in her palm, watching the other students as they passed chatting cheerfully, "I don't know. Mr. Kenni tells the story with such passion and intimate knowledge with the world and characters... I want to believe that it's all the truth."  
  
Clyde chuckled and touched her wrist comfortingly, "Hey, Mary, it's okay. You've just got a mind for the fantastical, that's all. Long as I can remember you've always fallen in love with those kinds of worlds."  
  
"Well, in the end Expel," she stopped herself and smiled bitterly, "I mean Ancarta IV, was destroyed so I guess we'll never know."  
  
"The sad thing is I don't think the author knows anymore either..."  
  
  
  
  
'... all I could think of as Expel dissolved in the storm was Rena's eyes, and her voice calling my name. The klaxxonx had died down, but I could still hear them echoing in my mind. The tragic end of Expel was nothing more than a silent scream in my mind that will ring to eternity...'  
  
  
  
  
+. e n d .+  
  
  
  
  
POST FIC REFLECTION: Eh, I'm not sure how much I like the middle, but I like the beginning and I LOVE the end. As to what happened to Rena and co., that's solely up to the imagination! Did they die waiting for Claude to return? Or did they echo Gyoro's sentiments and head up to face the Ten Wiseman without him? Did they make it to Energy Nede and save the Universe, or did the entire plan collapse in upon itself? ^ ^  
Anyways, I hope you all can figrue this out because I don't think I even know...  
*sincerely  
Jennifer Lynne Sparky Young  
aka Izzy Girl  
aka Cephied Variable  
cephied_variable@yoishness.zzn.com  
www10.brinkster.com/cephiedvariable/carthesis  
ff.n ID #12217 (Izzy Girl) 


End file.
